


Erase My First Words To You

by Oighear



Series: Black Clover Soulmate Tattoo AU [1]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Tattoos, Angst, F/M, Manga Spoilers (Spade Arc), Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 18,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27803080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oighear/pseuds/Oighear
Summary: Asta had always been so sure about who he was destined to spend his life with. But one day, words he doesn’t recognize are carved on his skin.Soulmate tattoo AU.
Relationships: Asta & Father Orsi Ofai, Asta/Noelle Silva, Vanessa Enoteca & Noelle Silva
Series: Black Clover Soulmate Tattoo AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068773
Comments: 187
Kudos: 236
Collections: IAmStoryteller's Best of Black Clover Fic Rec





	1. Asta - Inking

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure where I'm going with this one, but I'm having a good time writing this... so might as well share it!
> 
> I'm a sucker for Astelle, so here it is.

Asta had always been so sure about who he was destined to spend his life with. From the moment he’d met Sister Lily, it was clear to him. She was his soulmate, and it was only a matter of time before Fate inked their lives together with words that would prove to everyone what Asta knew in his heart. 

He kept repeating it, all day, every day, proposing to her ‘preemptively’.  _ We’re soulmates, Sister _ . She brushed him off every time. But Asta  _ knew _ it was going to happen, eventually. The day his soulmate tattoo would appear.

“You know, most people don’t ever get a soulmate tattoo.” Father Orsi said. “It’s pretty rare. Plus, you’re 10. It’s too young.”

“I  _ know _ it’ll appear soon! I can feel it! And when it does, I’ll propose again!”

Nash sighed, settling down at the table. “What would even be written?”

“It’ll be ‘Good morning’!” Asta yells confidently

Nash, Yuno and Father Orsi looked at him blankly, then Nash started laughing. 

“You can’t even remember her first words to you?”

“It was ‘good morning’!”

“Asta, think.” Yuno said. “It can’t be ‘good morning’, or everyone would have it carved on their skin.”

“Uh? But it’s the first words she said to me!”

“No, these are salutations, Asta.” Father Orsi said. “It has to be the first words that are  _ felt _ and uttered directly to you.”

They all turned to Father, puzzled he’d known about soulmates tattoos. He shrugged.

“You’d be surprised how many believers come to me with questions about this. I had to gather information about soulmate tattoos so I wouldn’t look like a fool in front of them. They believe the tattoos are sent by God, you see.”

“They aren’t?” Asta asked

“Who knows?” Father answered

Asta contemplated the idea. It looked like magic to him, but he knew it wasn’t. There was no mana in soulmate tattoos. And there was no reason why anyone would bother spying on people’s first encounters to carve the words afterwards. Moreover, some tattoos were inked even before the soulmates would meet… 

Well, he shouldn’t have to dwell on this. 

“I’m gonna go train!”

And thus, he headed out.

Training was a good way to forget about this. He’ll train, and he’ll become the Wizard King, and a man sister Lily would want to marry. It was simple, really. And if he never got a soulmate tattoo, it’d be fine, because he wouldn’t even need one. He’ll prove to her that he’s the one who can make her happy. 

Asta was thinking about heading back after a few hours of training when he felt a vivid pain on his forearm. He bent over, gripping his arm. Did he accidentally pull a muscle? It felt like his arm was on fire, like a thousand needles were piercing through his skin. It  _ hurt _ ... it hurt so much! He was thinking about running to the nearest doctor when the pain subsided. Just like that. Asta released the grip on his forearm, an eyebrow raised. 

The first thing he saw was a black mass. He thought it was dirt; maybe his hand had been dirtied and he’d rubbed it off his arm. He then registered that there were letters. The ink was still appearing, slowly. 

This was the moment! He’d head back and show her the words… the proof! She’d have to marry him… they were soulmates.  _ Soulmates! _ He had been right… 

Squinting, he took a closer look at the words on his skin. He wondered what it would be. He’d always thought it would be “good morning”, but then she introduced herself, so he didn’t know what it would be… Father Orsi said it was words that were felt? Asta didn’t know what it meant, but he was sure they were good words, nice words, and beautiful words. Sister Lily was always so nice…

Asta’s heart stopped. On his left forearm, there was no “good morning”, no “I’m Sister Lily”, no “I will be staying here with you at the church”. Nothing kind, or nothing he’d heard her say, or nothing he could even  _ imagine _ she’d ever say to him. There were two words, written in such a beautiful and intricate calligraphy that Asta could barely decipher the letters. 

_ Vanish, insect. _


	2. Asta - Denial

It was a prank. It was obviously a prank. This was magic. He couldn’t feel mana, but then again, he  _ was _ manaless! Magic detection had never been a skill of his… Surely there was mana, right? It couldn’t be true.  _ Vanish, insect? _ He wasn’t smart or anything, but even he could guess these were words  _ no one _ could utter upon a first encounter! Who’d believe something like this? It  _ had _ to be a prank. Asta headed back to the Church and immediately went for the infirmary. He’ll get bandaids to conceal the tattoo until it wears off. Because it  _ would _ wear off. 

“Got hurt?”

Nash was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

“Uh… yeah! My arm!”

He’d rather pretend he was hurt than show anyone this tattoo. It was obviously  _ wrong _ . Sister Lily… she was his soulmate. There could be no doubt about this. No one else could… no one else. 

“Whatcha got there? HEY IS THAT A TATTOO??”

Asta jerked away, covering his forearm with his hand. But it was too late, Nash was already onto him. 

“Hey, did you go get a tattoo cause you couldn’t get the sister to marry you otherwise? Are you that desperate? Did you ask the guy to write “Good morning”?”

“No, it’s a prank! It’s not a real tattoo!”

Nash didn’t seem to believe him. He was already mocking him with everything he had. 

“What’s happening here?”

The ruckus had drawn Yuno and Father Orsi.

“Asta got a tattoo” Nash said

Asta looked at Nash, an utter look of betrayal on his face, then at Father. There was no escaping this. 

“No one in their right  _ mind _ would tattoo a kid!” Father Orsi said while closing the distance between him and Asta.

The magicless boy considered jumping out the window. He’d trained his legs, he could land safely… That one moment off-guard was all it took Nash to remove his hand and look at the tattoo. Asta blushed and turned to face the wall as Nash started laughing out loud. 

“Are you serious?” Nash cried out, almost crying from laughter

Asta closed his eyes, hiding the tattoo, hiding his face. It could  _ not  _ be true. 

“Asta, show me the tattoo.” Father Orsi demanded

He had such a serious tone, the boy felt like he couldn’t argue. So he turned and slowly lifted his arm. Father Orsi looked surprised. 

“Well, these are unusual first words…”

“It can’t be true!” Asta cried out. “I’ve never met anyone who said that to me!”

“It does look like a soulmate tattoo to me” Father Orsi said, to Asta’s despair. “You may not have met them yet…”

“Whoever this is,” Yuno said with a smug smile “they’re quite perceptive of your character on their first encounter.”

“Hey, Asta, if these tattoos are godsent, maybe god send yours because you kept pestering the nun!”

“IT’S NOT FUNNY!”

Asta felt like crying. It was a lie. It was not a real tattoo. It was a prank. It was a prank…

“Alright boys, out. Please.”

Yuno and Nash left reluctantly. Father watched them and then sat with Asta at the table. The boy looked at a loss. 

“Listen, Asta, it’s ok…”

“No! I want to marry Sister...”

Father Orsi sighed, then put Asta’s arm on the table, making it face the ceiling.

“Look at these words.”

“I don’t want to. They’re not true.”

“They are true. They are a gift, Asta.”

The boy seemed to consider the idea for a split second, before he had this dumb happy look on his face. 

“Hey, who cares about soulmates anyway? I don’t care about Fate or whatever this is supposed to be! I’ll keep training, and I’ll make Sister happy! I’ll become the Wizard King, and she’ll marry me!”

“Asta, think about…”

“I’ll keep training!”

Father watched as the boy headed out. He looked so happy. 

Orsi didn’t have the courage to say anything to him about this. Not this day, nor any other day. 


	3. Asta - Resolve

For years after the carving of his soulmate tattoo, Asta wore a wristband and would never, ever, look at the _cursed_ ink. He would avoid it, to the point he couldn’t even remember the words written there. He would not hear about soulmate tattoos, he would only train, and train harder. 

This was his resolve. 

Fate had made him a peasant but he’d made his way to the Royal Capital. 

Fate had made him magicless but he was a Magic Knight of the Black Bulls. 

Fate had burdened him with a soulmate? So be it. He’d throw it away and marry the woman he loved. 

Fate will never take anything from him anymore. He would  _ not _ stand by that. 


	4. Asta - Temptation

Asta sighed, sinking into a hot bath. Man, what a day. 

First, he’d spent the whole morning trying to pass his Magic Knight exam only to flunk it. Still, he’d made it into the Black Bulls. And then, off he was to the base. 

When Asta first arrived there, he felt like his brain could never process everything that was happening there. Yami had barely opened the door for him that a fireball whizzed past him, half a centimetre away from burning his hair and everything was so loud in there. Spells, food, and a lot of yelling. 

“Welcome to our squad… the worst of the worst!” Yami had laughed while slapping his back

Asta learned it the hard way. He’d gone through an excruciating initiation where he honestly would've died if not for his anti magic sword. But then, he was made an official member, as the pink-haired witch called Vanessa fixed his robe and added a Black Bull emblem to his headband… it felt good. Magna had given him a fired up tour of the base afterwards. The place was huge. Asta was certain he’d get lost eventually. All the more as his senpai explained that the hideout layout changed every night. 

And then, of course, he met his comrade, the other rookie who was a royal with a little bit of an attitude. He couldn’t help but think he knew her. Maybe he did, after all. He didn’t know much about royals, but surely they were like celebrities, right? Asta had felt like something was familiar in her… not her features, not exactly. Maybe something she’d said, or something in the way she expressed herself. Yeah, maybe. Still, she’d been pretty rude towards Magna, and she’d thrown away the robe he’d worked his ass off to get… and had stormed out. This had been another thing Asta couldn’t process or understand, so he’d tried to forget about it. 

Asta sank deeper in his bath. A Magic Knight. He was a magic knight now. He chuckled, proud and content, but then felt a sting and his smile faded away. 

_Welp, time to get out of that bath._

Asta removed his wristband and started cleaning his body with the soap. Out of habit, he would not, ever, look at what was under that wristband. But somehow, this night… he felt like it. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at his forearm. He took one ragged breath, lifted the arm. He could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. He turned the arm so the palm of his hand would face the ceiling… Suddenly, he averted his gaze and plunged his arm into the bath water, splashing everything around him.

Asta had _sworn_ he’d never look at it again! He was a magic knight now… he could _not_ back down! Not so early…

Asta dried his arm and put the wristband on once again. Back where it _belonged_. His heart was still racing. Why did he feel like looking at these words… they were not even true words. Just a little bit of ink… he was not going to let it get the best of him. 

Confused and disappointed in his lack of resolve, Asta headed back to his over-cleaned bedroom and, exhausted from the day, fell asleep instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all gonna hate me for making the first encounter happen off-screen. Still, I regret nothing.  
> We're switching to Noelle next chapter 😎


	5. Noelle - Inking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First Noelle chapter, it's finally here... enjoy

Noelle didn’t know much about soulmate tattoos. It was a touchy subject among royals, whose marriages were often arranged. Surely, royals would not let some inking on their bodies get the best of them. They were _above_ such trivial matters. Love was for commoners. Soulmates were fairy tales for the lower-class people who needed to dream. And if, _god forbid_ , royals happened to get a soulmate tattoo, they would conceal it and take the secret to the grave. 

Noelle had heard a story about a wedding between a royal and a noble risking to be cancelled exactly because the noble had a hidden soulmate tattoo. The head of the royal family had demanded it was removed. They had tried everything: inking over it, having a professional tattoo artist try to adjust the words; a commoner with erasing magic had even been called to the capital to work on that tattoo… all in vain. The tattoo had reappeared within seconds. The only way to make a soulmate tattoo disappear… was for the soulmate to die. 

In the end, all went well. The marriage was celebrated between both families, uniting their bloodlines. And the body of a commoner was found right by the noble family’s castle. 

That royal family sure wouldn’t want the new addition to the family to be tempted, knowing that there was someone in the world she was destined to be with. The last thing royals need is a scandal. This is true at all times. 

This tale convinced Noelle that if she’d ever got a soulmate tattoo, she’d never show it to anyone. Ever. She was already responsible for one person’s death, she didn’t want to put any more shame on her name. 

Not that she ever thought she could get a tattoo anyway. They were rare, after all, and surely, Fate had better things to do than to give a sixteen-year-old girl a tattoo. And she was royalty. It could _not_ and would _not_ happen to her. 

Noelle had other priorities anyway. Survival, for starters. Life-or-death situations were an occupational hazard for magic knights; she had known that much since her early years. But she hadn’t anticipated that, depending on the squad you ended up joining, the level of danger varied greatly. 

The Black Bulls was a squad which really had a knack for getting into trouble. Even if it wasn’t in missions, the hideout in itself was pretty dangerous. If you happened to be standing in a corridor while the rooms were rearranging, you were in for a free roller-coaster ride. The squadmates were also as reckless as reckless came. 

For instance, right now, they were exploring a dungeon. At first, Luck had kept pushing Magna on traps. This was just everyday life in the Black Bulls. Noelle had been relieved that she was not the one Luck would shove into giant killing monsters just for fun. This had happened on their first dungeon exploration. All of them had gotten beaten up quite badly that one time… They’d made it out alive. Just barely. 

Now, they were fighting off Clover mages who had seemed eager to explore the dungeon and not wait for Magic Knights to clear it first. Needless to say that against Magic Knights, these Clover Citizens had no chance. They were winning of course. That didn’t mean that they weren’t making a mess. Well, it would be over soon anyway. Much a better mission than that first dungeon exploration… 

Noelle stopped suddenly. _Pain._ She tried her best to breathe slowly, as she felt a vivid burn right under her left collarbone. A spell? Was it a spell? She hadn’t seen— forget seeing, she hadn’t even _sensed_ any mana! Looking down to the area, she frowned, puzzled. There was nothing. Her robe was intact. _But it hurt_ … she grasped her robe, clenching it. Her squadmates had better things to do now… but… Noelle was thinking about calling out to Vanessa when it stopped. Suddenly. 

_Strange_.

They cleared the dungeon and brought back the Clover citizens to the royal capital. Still, Asta, who was barely recovering from previous injuries, and Magna, who had gone through too many dungeon traps, were beaten up quite badly, so they had to drop by Owen’s to make sure everything was in order. 

Noelle couldn’t stop thinking about that piercing pain. It had been as if… _something_ was being carved into her skin. She froze at the thought. 

_There’s no way..._

She left her squadmates and got into the first bathroom she found, locking up behind her. She removed her Magic Knight robe quickly and parted her clothes slightly, only to see a bit of… black? She gasped. _Ink._

_This can’t be happening…_

Noelle got to the mirror and, shaking, looked at the writing. Her eyes opened wide as she stared at the words carved a few centimetres under her left collarbone. That was definitely a soulmate tattoo. That was some sloppy handwriting and it took her a great deal of mental operation to flip what was written and to decipher the letters. Her heart skipped a beat as she finally understood. She recognized these words. Not only the words, she knew that handwriting. And she wouldn’t believe it. 

_Let’s both do our best!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is written, just needs a bit of editing; it should be up tomorrow 😎  
> I have a vague outline of where I want to go. It'll be longer than I initially thought it would, but well... I'm enjoying writing this. I hope you enjoy reading too!


	6. Noelle - Conceal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter Vanessa, whom I love dearly.  
> Short chapter, nothing much happens.

There was no way this was true. This could not be true. Noelle opened every cupboard, searching frantically for bandaids, bandage,  _ anything _ to conceal the tattoo. A bottle fell and it shattered on the ground. Noelle froze.

“Noelle, you okay in there?” Vanessa asked from behind the door

_ Calm. Down. They’ll know something is up. _

“I’m fine! I’ll be right here.”

She took a moment to calm down, to compose herself, to straighten up, to make sure that her clothing didn’t show the tattoo. The Black Bulls robe covered it fully, of course. She was grateful for it, but couldn’t take the risk. Noelle reached for the first aid kit and took out a few bandages, dressing up the tattoo as a wound the best she could. She picked up the glass shreds and put them in the bin. 

_Alright._ _Don’t panic._

All she had to do was hide it. That was all she had to do for now… she’ll think about it later. One step at a time, calm and collected. Breathing slowly, she headed out. 

Vanessa was waiting for her, arms crossed. She looked at her inquisitively. 

“What happened in there?” Vanessa asked. “You’re pale as a sheet! Do you want me to get Owen?”

“No, I’m fine. Just tired.”

The last thing she needed was to be checked for injuries. Vanessa knitted her eyebrows and for a split second, Noelle was scared she’d figured it out. It was impossible she would have, she realized. Who would think about this? Soulmate tattoos were an exception, not a norm. Vanessa most probably thought she was injured. Funny, as she was the only one to be ungrazed. Well, if it wasn’t for that  _ thing _ on her skin. 

The witch didn’t seem convinced, but she didn’t pry more. 

“Alright, we’ll head back to the base once Asta’s patched up.”

Noelle tensed, which obviously got her another quizzical look from the witch. 

“We’ll have a talk when we get home.”

_ Crap. _

Finral came to pick them up. They’d apparently interrupted a “very promising date”, which they all understood had been a disaster. The spatial mage opened a portal and they all went through it. 

Going back to the base would’ve been a relief for Noelle if she wasn’t afraid of Vanessa’s questions. But soon, she understood that it would be fine. The witch headed straight for the bar and seemed to pay no mind to whatever she’d said earlier about “having a talk”. 

Noelle was conflicted. She wanted to talk about it. She needed to get it out. At the same time, she knew she couldn’t, and she was deeply deeply embarrassed about… well, the whole idea of having a soulmate tattoo. Maybe she didn’t see it right. Maybe she’d imagined it. 

She looked briefly at Asta as he was showing off his injuries to Yami. Their captain had grabbed him by the head and lifted him off the floor, threatening to kill him if he ever got any more injured during a mission. 

There was no way Asta was her soulmate. She was a royal, born and raised at the capital of the Kingdom, supposedly blessed with the best magic possible. 

Meanwhile, this was  Asta . A magicless peasant from a village, farthest from the capital as far could be, loud, unrefined... ~~kind~~ stupid, ~~confident~~ idealist, ~~brave~~ reckless... with a resolve that never, ever, faltered.

She felt a blush on her cheeks so she looked away quickly and pretended to be very interested in what Charmy had planned for dinner. 

“ _ Aw _ , who cares about dinner!” Vanessa shouted as she passed an arm around her shoulder. “Come drink with me!”

“Ah, hum, I’m underage, you kn-”

Vanessa leant into her before pulling her to the bar. Noelle couldn’t escape her grasp. And it worried her. 

“Oi! Finral! How’s that bath coming up?”

_ What the hell was she… _

“Yeah, it’s done it’s done.” he said coming out of a portal. “So, where’s the date?”

“She’ll be waiting in front of that bakery shop, you know, the one not far from that nice flower garden?”

“Oh yeah, I see, I see. Off I go, then!”

_ What the hell was… _

“Alright! We’ll be in the bath, no one gets in!”

_ What…? Ok, now she needed to say something! _

“I-I take my baths alone, I’m royalt…”

Vanessa pushed her into the portal and soon followed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a transition chapter, I apologize. I promise the next will be more interesting... and up very soon.


	7. Noelle - Talking

Noelle landed head first into hot water. She blinked to get the water of of her eyes and took a look at her surroundings. They were still at the Black Bulls hideout. 

It was one of Yami’s favorite places at the base. Large, shared public baths were something big from where he came from and he missed it dearly. As Noelle was used to small, private bathrooms, and enjoyed taking baths alone, she almost never went there. It really felt like a privilege, to have such a large bath just for two people. It was almost a pool. She wondered if people swam in there. She was pretty sure her squadmates were crazy enough to.

Noelle got out of the water, mentally cursing Finral for his poor spatial magic and Vanessa, for pushing her into that bath like that. 

“Surprised? I got Finral to prepare that bath for us. He got a date with one of my friends in exchange… but I briefed her, so he’ll most likely be back sooner than expected. Anyway… You might want to remove these.”

_ Hell no _ . She was  _ not _ removing any of her clothes. Especially not now that she had that…  _ thing _ to hide. She turned as Vanessa put down her wine bottle and settled into the water. 

“You’ll catch a cold, standing there in drenched clothes.”

She was right, though. 

“I’m royalty. I will not…”

“Oh, Noelle, come on…”

She hated the Black Bulls for never reacting how they were supposed to when she said that. They were to yield, to apologize and to crawl before her… that’s what was supposed to happen. Or that was what she’d seen happen several times with other royals. But the Bulls, they’d just laugh it off. She could never get away with anything by using her status. 

“You turn.” Noelle said

“Aw, sixteen year-olds are so pure. Ok, my eyes are closed. Promised.”

Noelle’s mind was racing, trying to find a solution to escape the inevitable situation. If she plunged neck deep into the bath and got enough bubbles around, Vanessa would not see the patch. Which, hopefully, was waterproof. She wouldn’t ask questions, and she wouldn’t know anything about this… Yes, there was a way to escape it. Noelle put her plan into practice and submerged in the bathwater. She pulled as many bubbles as possible towards her. 

“Are you decent, now?”

Vanessa didn’t wait for her to confirm. She grabbed her wine bottle and poured herself a glass. 

“So, anything you wanted to talk about?” the water mage said

It was a technique Noelle had learned from her instruction as a royal. When facing a delicate situation, take the initiative. You’ll have the upper hand, and everything should be fine if handled correctly. However, as Vanessa was staring at her blankly, Noelle couldn’t help but think that the witch was most likely immune to any kind of mental manipulation. That, or Noelle really sucked at it. 

“Why so tense?” Vanessa laughed 

She took a sip, smiling widely.

“This is a hot bubble bath,” she added “Relax. I can’t see anything.”

Noelle couldn’t have relaxed for her life. She had something to hide, she was naked, and Vanessa of all people  _ always _ seemed to know when she was lying. 

“I just wanted a long, nice talk.” the witch added “You’ve got something on your mind, right?”

Noelle stiffened, and gathered more bubbles around her. 

“Hum… I’m kinda tired from the dungeon exploration.”

“Oh sweetie, you know you can’t fool me, right?”

Vanessa wasn’t angry. She seemed to find it funny, that Noelle would even  _ try _ to lie to her. The water mage’s heart tightened in her chest. She didn’t want to lie, but she couldn’t be honest either. And she needed answers, she wanted, more than anything, to be reassured. 

“What… do you think about Fate?” Noelle asked

Vanessa looked at her with puzzled eyes, then she looked down, studying the red liquid in her glass. 

“Oh, you know. I kinda hate it. I chose my own path, I chose the Black Bulls… but I eventually came back home, and got the spell the Witch Queen had said I was meant to get. You know… it’s just how it is. Fate is something you can’t do anything about.”

Noelle’s gaze got lost in the floating bubbles in front of her.  _ Can’t do anything about it _ . She had hoped for another answer. 

“There are some things you can’t choose.” Vanessa continued. “Where and when you get born, the magic you’ll be blessed with, who you love… these you can’t choose. But it’s the things you chose that make up who you are to me. Look at our magicless kid.”

Noelle couldn’t help but stiffen. Vanessa picked this up and got a little smirk on her face, one Noelle really, really didn’t like.

“What’s with him,  _ ehhhhh _ ?”

Noelle shook her head and focused on the steam, the water, the bubbles, anything else. She knew she was blushing, and it didn’t help  _ at all _ . Her tattoo felt like it was burning. Maybe it was the hot water. 

“Anyway, why are you asking me about Fate?”

Vanessa poured herself another glass of wine. Noelle watched as red filled the transparent glass, hoping that the task would take longer so she’d have more time to think up a lie. Vanessa took a brief look at her before taking the cup to her lips. She stopped right before taking a sip as she seemed to understand something. 

“Oh, you think it’s a soulmate tattoo?”

Noelle’s heart skipped a beat. She was certain the temperature in the room had dropped ten degrees. She stuttered a few syllables, but nothing that made any sense. 

“Under that wristband…” Vanessa speculated. “Now that you mention it… I’m pretty sure it’s one. I mean, he never  _ ever _ takes it off! I wonder who that is. Do you think that’s the nun he keeps talking about?”

Noelle couldn’t think, even less talk. The witch shook her empty wine bottle before reaching out for another. She seemed to have grown bored from pouring glasses because she started drinking straight from the new bottle. 

An awkward silence settled.  Vanessa was staring at her. Noelle was keeping her eyes down. She tried to look up, only to see the witch's face crumbled slowly as she came to the realization. Noelle looked down again, unable to face her gaze. 

“Do you…? Are you…?”

She didn’t dare nod. 

“I’m so sorry.”

_ Uh _ ? Why was she apologizing?

“You know, it’s not because he has a soulmate that you don’t have a chance, sweetie... I mean, yeah, it’s  _ Fate _ and all, but…”

_ Oh _ … 

“It’s not… what you think.” Noelle trailed off

Vanessa frowned. 

“I… I have a soulmate tattoo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Props to Vanessa for being both so good and so bad at guessing. She's a queen.   
> Editing is hell, but I'm having a lot of fun. I cut the bath scene in two chapters because I like ending chapters on strong lines or cliffhangers... even though I won't leave you hanging for too long.   
> Anyway, as always, thanks for reading!


	8. Noelle - Relief

Vanessa’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. She put down her bottle slowly, still staring at Noelle. 

“It… appeared today. But I’m a royal,” Noelle added confusedly, “and we can’t have this kind of… It’s… it’s dangerous, and…”

“Are you kidding me? You got a soulmate tattoo and you’re worrying about status, of all things?”

Noelle looked away. 

“I said I hated Fate,” Vanessa added “but I gotta say… I wouldn’t say no to  _ this _ kind of Fate. Noelle, don’t you realize? It means you have someone in this world that is  _ meant _ for you, someone with whom you have a deep connection. Do you realize how rare this is?”

“But royals can’t… we don’t… get this kind of luxury, Vanessa. We have two jobs: one, become a magic knight. Second, maintain our position. I almost failed the first job, and the second… it comes with marrying into either a powerful noble family or a royal family. We don’t get to choose, and if we do, it has to be… accepted and Asta…”

Noelle stopped abruptly. Now, she’d blurted it out. She did not dare look at the witch. 

“Hm… I guess a magicless, peasant shrimp from the boonies would not be a suitable option for a daughter of royalty.”

Noelle felt like sinking even deeper into this bath. There was no way to get out of this. She couldn’t even keep the secret for a day. 

“Keep this a secret, please…” Noelle begged her. “I can’t… it’s… no one must know. If they knew… Royals can’t have soulmate tattoos, Vanessa. We… we really can’t.”

The witch nodded kindly before reaching out for her bottle again. Noelle had stopped counting how many glasses she’d had, but she found herself hoping she’d be too drunk to remember the conversation. 

“Still, I’m kind of jealous.” Vanessa pouted “I wish I had one… a soulmate… that’d be nice...”

Noelle sighed. She’d give it to her anytime. 

“It just proves I’m even more of a failure than I thought.”

“Now, that’s a stupid way of thinking about it. Didn’t I just tell you? You can’t do anything about soulmate tattoos, or Fate for whatever that is…”

Noelle had a sudden stroke of genius. 

“What if Rouge…”

“Rouge can’t do anything about it. Soulmate tattoos are not magic, and they’re not harmful.”

_ Not harmful _ . The story with the dead soulmate flashed in her mind, but she remained quiet. No need to scare Vanessa. 

“Would you show it to me?”

Noelle considered the request. Well, Vanessa knew anyway. Showing a bit of ink was nothing compared to the news she’d just broken to her. She slowly removed the patch and waited for the witch’s reaction.

“How very Asta-like.” Vanessa chuckled

Noelle couldn’t help but smile. Yeah. This was very Asta. She looked down, reading the words written in such a bad handwriting. If the words hadn’t been enough to identify him, she sure would’ve recognized his scribbling, so unique in its sloppiness… 

“Located close to your heart too… how romantic. I wonder what your first words to him were…” Vanessa said while pouring another glass

Noelle gasped. She hadn’t thought about that. How had their first encounter gone? She could barely remember… she was coming back from the training field… she was pretty sure she’d been rude. She was so angry with herself and her flimsy control… she was so angry to have been put into the Black Bulls… so angry to be a failure… so angry to not be able to change, to get better, to rise above her doubts… 

“Something along the lines of… ‘you filthy peasant’, ‘get lost’, or ‘your paltry magic’” Noelle guessed

Vanessa burst into laughter, almost spilling her glass into the water. 

“Oh, right! I’d forgotten that’s how you were back then…”

“Please don’t laugh… It really isn’t funny… no wonder he’d hide it.”

Vanessa looked like she’d understood yet another thing. 

“Hey, thinking back… Asta had this wristband when he first arrived here…”

Noelle blushed. He knew, then? But he never… he never said anything about it! 

“Well, no need to dwell on this.” Vanessa said. “I can see you going back to racking your brain around this. Don’t. You’re soulmates, but you don’t have to rush anything. Most people who get their soulmate tattoos in their youth hide it and experiment first… as they should. So don’t sweat it. You’re both sixteen. You’re too young for such complicated matters.”

Noelle looked at Vanessa in awe. She didn’t know she was this… wise. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe she’d heard these words somewhere. Or maybe she’d experimented this firsthand. Who knew… but Noelle was grateful. She felt a hundred times lighter.

“Tell me if you need adjustments on your clothes to hide it. I’ll help with my thread magic.” the witch said with a wink

* * *

Noelle did her best to forget about the soulmate tattoo, and Asta was just… how he’d always been. 

They went on missions, earned some stars, closed the gap between them and the other companies. The Bulls even ranked second at the Star Festival. 

Noelle was sure she could’ve gone like this forever. Unperturbed. She’d sometimes look at the ink, but more often than not, she considered it as part of her skin, like a birthmark. She knew it was here, but didn’t think about it most of the time. She’d worry about soulmates later. She’d worry about love later. She had more pressing matters. Getting better control over her magic, making the Black Bulls the best company, getting new spells, getting stronger, getting chosen for the Royal Knights… 

There were a few times when the ink stung. When their “connection” was made clearer. Noelle ignored it. They were squadmates, comrades,  _ friends _ . Nothing more. 

Until that one night. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I already say how much I like to shamelessly end chapters on a cheap line? Well, I've done it again.   
> About Vanessa, I _will_ publish a short something for her in this AU. Should be a drabble, maybe a bit longer. We'll see. 
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


	9. Noelle - Shatter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, sorryyyyyy

That night, the whole squad was coming back from an exhausting training session with Mereoleona. Yami had lost a bet, which had led to this chaotic situation: the whole Black Bulls squad thrown into Vultim, an active volcano in the grand magic zone, Mereoleona and a few courageous (stupid) Crimson Lions running around in mana skin, yelling something about being the most fired up squad, and showing Fuegoleon they weren’t growing soft. 

So, everybody in the Black Bulls was in a disastrous mood upon heading back. TRunning low on mana, bodies sore, ears still ringing, exhausted. 

Vanessa grabbed a bottle and sunk into the nearest couch, declaring that she wouldn’t move until the next morning. Gordon, Grey and Gauche went straight for their rooms, either mumbling about how they hated their lives or pestering loudly against Mereoleona and Yami for allowing their squad to be thrown into a volcano. Finral disappeared in a portal. Luck didn’t look like he wanted to pick a fight. The hideout had never been so silent. It was concerning. 

Yami sighed while dropping loudly on his chair. He took out a cigarette, then pointed at Asta. 

“Hey kid, your thing’s in shambles.”

The Black Bulls’ captain disappeared behind a newspaper, not realizing the fuse he’d just lit. Asta looked down at his wristband. Some threads had burnt. The “thing” was starting to wear off, only held together by a few sorry threads. It showed skin, and not only skin.  _ Ink _ .  Noelle's heart skipped a beat. 

Magna seemed to notice the hint of black on his junior's arm. He walked towards him...  _ No, no, no… _ out of everyone here, it had to be Magna! He was there when they first met, he’d  _ know. _ Noelle gasped as he grabbed Asta’s wrist and lifted it to inspect it. _No, no, no..._

“Hey man, is that a soulmate tatt…”

Then, Asta did something no one could ever imagine he'd do. He shook Magna away, violently. 

A heavy silence followed. Yami put down his newspaper. Vanessa stood up from the couch.The magicless boy was bent over, clutching his forearm; he looked like an animal protecting his food.  _ Get back _ .

Magna made a careful step towards Asta, “Oi, Asta, it’s fine.” he said, tentatively. “We’re not gonna make fun of you. It’s fine, you can show it to us, we’re...”

“I’m not showing it!” Asta shouted. “It’s not true! These words… they’re not true! The only one for me is sister Lily! No one else!”

Noelle was certain she’d stopped breathing. Something had just broken inside her. She felt like screaming, throwing Vanessa’s bottles on the wall… or just lying down on the floor and breaking down. But she was frozen. Vanessa’s hand gently brushed hers, but she found herself unable to react. The words kept ringing in her ears. 

“Kid, keep it down.” Yami said calmly. “Vanessa, can you patch that thing up?”

The voice of her captain made Noelle snap out of it. Her mind started racing.  _ What was that? _ She was almost more scared of her own reaction than Asta’s. Why did she care? Why did she even care… she did not care. She hadn’t cared for  _ weeks _ . Why was there this lump in her throat… 

Noelle felt Vanessa leave her side and she registered the witch was leaving the room with Asta. So she left the room too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate this chapter with all my might and wanted to get it out of the way hahaaaaa...  
> Because it was short, and because the next is more or less done, it'll be up in a few (10 max) hours... we're switching to Vanessa's point of view 😎


	10. Vanessa - Threading

Vanessa asked for him to calm down first, then to sit down. Asta was pacing. The witch had never seen him quite like that. 

He finally settled down, presenting his arm and looking away. Desperately. Battling. Trying so hard  _ not to look.  _ Vanessa sighed and put down her witch hat. These two stupids needed to stop  _ worrying  _ so much. 

“That wristband… sentimental value?”

Asta looked down, “No.”

She took out her grimoire and peeked at the tattoo under the withered wristband. She couldn’t make out the words from where she was standing. She only saw the curved handwriting, the refined calligraphy she’d seen Noelle use when writing reports. She’d made fun of her so many times, telling her that she didn’t need to write so well, that Yami didn’t read the reports anyway, but she always told her that she was a magic knight and that she needed to write her reports seriously. 

The pages flipped as the familiar pink aura surrounded the book. 

“I’m sorry… I’ll apologize to Magna…”

Vanessa smiled. He was still the same. That was a relief. 

“That’s a fine tattoo.” Vanessa says. “It looks like some elaborate handwriting.”

“I don’t know. I never look at it.”

She’d suspected that much. 

“And why that?”

The threads started working their magic. Vanessa knew she was walking down a dangerous path, but she made a resolve of questioning him. There was obviously something wrong with Asta getting angry… and desperate. She’d never seen him give way to despair. Even after he’d lost his arms… he’d never felt broken like he just did. 

“I hate Fate.”

Vanessa chuckled, “Don’t we all?”

Asta smiled gently at her before looking down at his lap.

“Magna is not Fate, though.” Vanessa continued. “He just wanted to see what you’ve been hiding… To be fair, I think we all wanted to see. Because we care about you and, believe it or not, a soulmate tattoo is exciting news.”

Asta took that in. His gaze was lost somewhere between two dusty flooring boards. 

“Fate took a lot from me. And I guess… becoming Wizard King and marrying Sister Lily… it’s linked. To me… one cannot go without the other. It’s the resolve I’ve had for years now, it’s what has been driving me, it’s my goal. Sometimes I’m afraid of falling behind. At the Volcano, I could barely keep up. I’m manaless… I mean… I’ll be working and training as much as possible until I’m Wizard King. And I’m going to be the Wizard King, and I won’t give up. But I’m scared that one day, I might give up.”

She knew how stubborn Asta could be. What she didn’t know was that he, of all people, their incredible wonder boy, could ever doubt himself. He was always so confident. He had trusted Finral and her during that Battle Royale at the Underwater Temple when even they were not certain of what they were doing. And then, he had refused she’d give herself away to the Witch Queen so he could get back his arms. He’d said… he’d rather never get his arms back than to have a friend sacrifice herself for him. He’d say he’d find a way to fight. He’d said…  _ screw Fate, I’ll find a way _ . 

Fate had not been kind to him, Vanessa realized. It would make sense he’d get angry at times. 

“But you know, Asta, this tattoo… it might be Fate, but it’s still a gift.”

He looked at her upon uttering these words, a quizzical look on his face. 

“And it’s not because you ignore it that it’ll go away.” She added

“I… know.”

“And there’s someone out there for you. Who’s waiting for you. Do you want them to wait forever?”

Asta seemed to consider the idea. 

“It’s not as if you could marry a nun anyway, Asta. I’m sure you know that, deep down.”

The magicless knight answered nothing. He stayed silent. Which, with him, meant everything.  _ He knows _ . Vanessa smiled. _Time to be bold._

“What do you say we look at the words?”

Asta was staring at her. Vanessa couldn’t help but laugh. 

“What, now?!” he shouted

“Why wait?”

Oh Noelle would  _ kill her _ for this. Well… she didn’t need to know. 

“Wait! What if it’s someone I’ve already met?”

_ It is, my boy,  _ “You can’t know if you don’t look!”

“No, but what if it’s someone I’ve…”

“Asta, let’s look at the  _ damn  _ tattoo!”

Asta, cheeks red, arms crossed, seemed to consider the request. He let out one conflicted groan, before slowly removing his just-repaired wristband. Vanessa leaned in closer to read the words. 

It was a beautiful handwriting, and it felt like this tattoo in itself represented Noelle perfectly: harsh words, but written in such delicate, kind curves which showed how much she cared. The witch looked up to Asta, eager to see his reaction. 

He was staring at the two words, mouth open. He didn’t seem surprised, more… puzzled. She hadn’t expected this. 

“Right…” he said. “I remember… it was this, yes…”

Vanessa frowned. It sure didn’t look like he remembered.

“I haven’t met them yet, though.”

_...what? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can hear you scream at your screen for how oblivious Asta is... haha yes. It's all for the sake of drama. I hope it's ok. Rest assured, he'll figure it out soon enough.  
> Unless you're screaming for yet another shameless cliffhanger... x")  
> Anyway, thanks for reading!


	11. Vanessa - Forget

Vanessa took a step back. It was impossible. He didn’t remember his first encounter with Noelle? 

“You haven’t… you’re sure?” she asked tentatively

Asta started laughing, “Oh yeah! I wouldn’t forget somebody greeting me with these words!”

That was… unexpected development. Asta was smiling. Such a pure, relieved smile on his face. Vanessa was dumbfounded. It didn’t look like he was lying, and he had no reason to. 

The witch watched as he put his wristband back.

“I don’t feel comfortable showing it to the others, though. Can you keep this secret?”

Vanessa nodded slowly, shoving her grimoire in her satchel. Now, she’d done it. She didn’t know what to tell him. Noelle would  _ really  _ kill her if she revealed the identity of his soulmate. 

“And… thanks for the wristband, and for… everything. I feel so much lighter now! I was so afraid to look at it… thank you, Vanessa! To think I’d been worrying for nothing… I won’t have to think about it until I meet the person, right?”

She tried to crack a smile, but it wouldn’t come. She watched as Asta left the room.

The door closed. 

Vanessa let out a held breath. She knew he was dense, but to be this forgetful… She hadn’t been here when they first met, but Magna had complained quite a deal about Noelle that first day… What if Asta had thought the words were meant for Magna, and not him?

Well, there was no point in dwelling. He didn’t remember either way. The witch sighed, picked up her hat and returned to the common room. She had wanted to speed up things for them, but obviously, it didn’t go the right way. Fate was playing with timing again… 

“Hey, what did you say to the kid?”

Captain Yami was still sitting in his armchair, smoking behind a newspaper. 

“Not much.”

“He had that dumb grin on his face.”

Vanessa smiled. 

“You’d think having a soulmate tattoo would make things easier, right?”

Yami closed his newspaper and put out his cigarette, “What do I know? I don’t care about that crap.”

Vanessa grabbed the bottle of wine she’d left on the couch. 

“Welp,” Yami said, rising from the chair “I’m off.”

“G’night captain.”

It was late, after all. Time to go to sleep.  But before that… 

Vanessa wandered in the corridors until she found the day’s location of Noelle’s room. 

Since when had she become these kids’ mother? Seeing them one after the other, making sure they didn’t hurt the other’s feelings, comforting them, reassuring them… This squad was her family, but she had never expected to love them this much, to care this much. 

She knocked gently at the door, “Noelle, sweetie, it’s me.”

No answer. Well, she was probably asleep after all. Vanessa yawned and started heading back to her room when she heard a thump on the door. She raised an eyebrow.

“Noelle?”

“What do you want?”

_ Oh _ . That wasn’t exactly a tone she would’ve liked to hear. 

“I just came to check on you. You’re okay?”

There was a silence, then she heard one bitter laugh. 

“I don’t know what I was expecting. I’ve tried so hard these past few months, you know? To forget about that. I really convinced myself that I didn’t care. I’ve been pretty busy, it helped, but, I don’t know… I managed because I knew that  _ someday _ it’ll change. But it turns out… Vanessa, even my  _ soulmate _ doesn’t want me.”

Vanessa’s heart tightened in her chest. She knew about Noelle’s story, how unwanted she’d always felt. She also knew how close Asta and her were; even if you put the soulmate connection aside, it was obvious to anyone. This kind of rejection… she could only imagine how much it must’ve hurt. She tried her best to think about something to say. Anything that could ease the pain. Vanessa leant her back against the door and slid to the ground. 

“He doesn’t know it’s you, Noelle. I bet if he knew…”

“You think it would make a difference? I don’t.”

“He cares a great deal about you.”

“He cares a great deal about everyone. It’s Asta… he’s...”

Noelle didn’t finish her sentence, but the witch could guess.  _ Kind. Altruistic. Selfless.  _

“It can’t be helped.” Noelle said at last. “It’s Bakasta. I don’t know why I got my hopes up. If I’d never got that tattoo… I’m sure everything would’ve been fine.”

Vanessa looked at her bottle, staring at her distorted reflection.  _ Maybe it wouldn’t have been fine either way _ . But she had to cheer her up. To try, at least. 

“Didn’t I tell you already?” The witch said at last. “You’re still young, both of you. You shouldn’t worry about what Fate set up for you.”

“I know… and I’ve tried not to care. But hearing him say it… it still…”

_ Hurts.  _ Of course it did. Vanessa’s gaze was lost in the deep dark green in front of her. She rocked the bottle and watched as the liquid was turning into a whirlpool inside. 

She stopped when Noelle started talking again, “You know what? You’re right. I have other priorities. I’ll get stronger, too. I’ll focus on controlling my magic, on gaining stars for the squad...”

“Now, that’s what I like to hear. Work hard so I can relax.”

The witch heard a subdued laugh and she knew she would be alright. Their rookies this year were strong. So much stronger than her. Her grip around the bottle neck tightened. 

“Well, you’ll need sleep for that. Good night.” Vanessa said as she was standing back up. 

“Vanessa…”

The witch turned to face the door. 

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Vanessa so much.   
> I have no idea how that's called when you turn a bottle, like a stirring motion or something, and then there's a whirlpool inside? I don't even know how to express it in my native language. Is there even a word for this?   
> Native English speakers, feel free to help, I'm struggling 😂


	12. Asta - Doubting

Asta couldn’t sleep. Which, for him, was concerning. He was one of those types who fell asleep as soon as their head connected with a pillow. Maybe it was the training with Mereoleona. Maybe he was too tired to sleep. And the Royal Knights exam was coming up… so it could be that he was stressed? But him… stressed…?

As he was staring at the ceiling, he realized why he couldn’t sleep. He raised his left hand and his eyes focused on the black mass on his arm. He stared at the patched-up wristband. It was good as new. But this wasn’t what he was concerned about. The words felt familiar. When he’d first read them with Vanessa, he felt sure he had never, ever heard them. Now… he was  _ almost _ certain to never have met someone who’d said that to him. But there was an ounce of doubt. 

The two words kept repeating in his head.  _ Vanish, insect _ . Asta was sure he’d never forget. Who could say that anyway? Sure, this was typically the type of thing Noelle would say to Fu-ha from the Green Mantis…

Asta sat up suddenly.  _ Wait a minute _ . 

He lay down again.  _ Nah, impossible _ . 

She would’ve said something… He could barely remember their first conversation, though. He was pretty sure she had insulted Magna, but he wasn’t… surely… Surely, when they first met, she would’ve been nicer, right? Upon hearing his words… if she knew they were soulmates, she would’ve said something...  He remembered the urge he’d had to look at the tattoo on his first day at the hideout, the very day he met her. He sat up once again as panic settled in the pit of his stomach. There was no way it was Noelle, right? 

There could be only one way to be certain… He got up, cold sweat prickling on his forehead and shuffled to his cupboard to fetch the birthday card his squadmates had signed. He went back to sit at the edge of his bed, opened the card, and removed his wristband. 

He looked at the card. He looked at the tattoo. The card. The tattoo. He compared them. 

_ It’s her handwriting. _

What was only a flimsy doubt in his mind had turned into a hurricane of panic. It’s a squadmate. It’s someone I know. It’s  _ Noelle _ . 

Asta tried to calm down. Ok, it was her, but she had never said anything about it, so maybe she didn’t know. He tried to gather everything he knew about soulmate tattoos. Was it even possible she didn’t know? Was it even possible she didn’t have her tattoo yet? It was… probable. It was the only way for it to make sense… So he was safe for now? 

He breathed out, relieved. He didn’t have to worry about this for now… 

_ Wait, wait, wait, back off. For  _ now _? What about Sister Lily?  _

~~_ You know you won’t marry her _ ~~ _~~.~~ I won’t give up.  _ ~~_ It’s okay to give up _ ~~ _~~.~~ If I give up on this, it’ll open the door to giving up on my dream. I’ll become the Wizard King...  _

He couldn’t take it anymore. His brain was overheating. Asta dressed up and left with his grimoire to go train. He didn’t want to think about this. 

He’ll get the answers he needed on his next day off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter once again hehehe  
> I really wanted the "realization" to be as blunt and flat as possible because, well, it's Asta. Who knew we'd have _Sekke "Fu-ha" Bronzazza_ to thank for this...  
> Next chapter is written, I simply keep rewriting and rewriting some parts. Still, it shouldn't take forever to update.  
> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed!


	13. Father Orsi - Guidance

As a priest, Father Orsi had a duty of guiding his believers. As the head of Hadge’s village only orphanage, he had a duty of raising parentless or abandoned children. But if you’d asked him if he felt like this was a duty, he would’ve brushed you off. He loved his job, both his jobs. He was a kind, caring man, always striving to give the best advice he could, and he considered every child he’d raised to be his own. He’d cry when they’d leave the church, and look forward to every letter they would send him. So, of course, when Asta showed up unannounced at the church that day, Father Orsi was overjoyed. 

The boy, on which, honestly, he wouldn’t have bet much (he loved him a great deal, he knew how kind he was, how good his heart was, but he wasn’t exactly bright, and above all manaless), had made it into the Magic Knights, the elite of the Kingdom. Even better: he had done such a great job that his company had risen to 2nd place! Right behind Yuno’s… Father Orsi watched as Asta was playing with the children of the church. Yes. Hadge’s future was bright with these two. 

“Ah, Father? Can I speak with you… privately?”

_ He was seeking guidance. From him _ . Father Orsi felt a gush of pride. But he kept a straight face, nodding soberly before heading into his office. 

Asta closed the door behind them and as Father Orsi took a good look at the boy, he realized that he seemed… different. Of course he was. After almost six months spent working as a Magic Knight, he’d look different. Calmer, more mature. But what really made a strong contrast with his past self was the doubt that clouded his smile. Father Orsi wasn’t sure he liked this one specific change. 

Asta sat down, so he did the same. 

“Can you… tell me everything you know about soulmate tattoos?”

The request struck the priest. Asta had never wanted to hear anything about it after getting his own. In fact, he had done everything in his power to  _ forget _ about the two words inked on his left forearm. For him to ask… something must have happened. 

“Why do you ask?”

The boy looked up. If Father Orsi didn’t know Asta any better, he’d think he was scared. 

“I think I might’ve met her”, he said, “but it doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

Asta kept silent for a while. 

“I don’t know.”

_ Alright, my boy _ . It was rare for Asta to ask him anything, so Father Orsi felt entrusted with a mission, a very important mission. He rose from his seat and got to the bookcase where he’d stored his notes on soulmate tattoos, mentally thanking the believers for having so many questions about these. The priest settled down and told the boy everything he knew. 

He watched as his worried look gradually relaxed, “So… it’s possible she didn’t have the tattoo when we met? Even though I did?”

“It is. In fact, it’s not uncommon for soulmates to not be on an equal footing. Sometimes, soulmates don’t even have their tattoos when they first meet. I’ve read about a couple who only got theirs ten years into their relationship.”

Asta seemed to consider the idea. Seeing him deep in thought like that… he’d grown up alright. He remembered back when he got his tattoo. The boy would barely listen to him, he kept shouting whenever the priest tried to broach the subject, however cautiously. 

“Does… does this tattoo mean that… I love her?”

Silence fell over them as Father Orsi was taken aback by the question. Father sighed, then smiled gently. 

“I think this is not something I can answer for you.”

“But you’ve made so much research about it!” Asta cried

“Asta, how do  _ you  _ feel about her?” Father Orsi asked calmly

The boy slumped into his chair as he tried so hard to avoid Father’s gaze. Asta was blushing, even slightly. The priest couldn’t help but smirk. 

“I don’t know.”

_ O, to be sixteen and worried about love.  _ Father Orsi gathered his papers and put them back on the shelf. He turned to Asta. 

“So, how is she?”

From the “ _ Vanish, insect _ ”, Father Orsi didn’t have high hopes. But still, Asta didn’t look too desperate, so surely, the person who had uttered these words couldn’t be that bad. 

“She’s… strong.”

_ Ah _ . 

Well, it was Asta, after all. “Strong”... she was a magic knight, then? From his squad maybe?

“And I feel like I can rely on her, but… Father, I don’t know if I  _ love _ her.”

Father Orsi sighed. The boy seemed more interested in understanding what the tattoos meant than seeing the person he was linked to. He hadn’t come to him for relationship or love advice (which, honestly, he was grateful for, the believers were enough trouble), but for knowledge. 

“You’ll figure it out on your own when the time comes.” Father Orsi said

There was a silence. Then Asta spoke again. 

“Have you ever been in love?”

Now, he hadn’t expected a question like that. The priest sat down again, joined hands on the table. 

“I have.”

“Really?!”

Father Orsi could’ve told the boy he was an extraterrestrial he wouldn’t have had a different reaction. 

“Yes, Asta, ‘really’. But you know that priests can’t get married.”

Asta looked so sad. Father Orsi wouldn’t have expected him to care this much. 

“I serve God, and I take care of you all. This is plenty.”

“Father, if you’d had a soulmate tattoo before… would you have chosen another path?”

Now, that was a tough question… 

“I don’t think I would have. I know—” he said before Asta could cut him “that my soulmate would’ve been… left alone. I still would’ve chosen to be a priest. Whatever Fate would’ve set for me… I wouldn’t have backed down on that. My devotion to God is a tremendous part of who I am. I’m plenty happy with what I got anyway. Even though you ungrateful brats don’t write nearly enough.”

“Uh? I write every week!”

“I can’t decipher your scribbling!”

Asta grinned, apologizing. It suddenly struck Father Orsi that whoever Asta’s soulmate was would carry the burden of his sloppy handwriting on her skin all of her life. But looking at that kid’s bright smile… surely it wasn’t a hefty price to pay. 

“Whatever you choose to do from now on, Asta, you need to know that you cannot outrun Fate. But you shouldn’t want to do it either. There’s no reason to go against Fate for the sole reason that it’s  _ Fate _ . I told you already but… this,” he takes Asta’s arm in his hand and points the wristband, “this is a gift.”

The boy chuckles.

“I’ve been told, yes.”

Father Orsi smiles in turn and gets up.

“Come help me with the garden.”

Asta stayed until around 6, then declared that he needed to head back to his squad. Of  _ course _ he had to go back, but still... Dining with them was too much to ask? 

They all watched as a squadmate of his opened a spatial portal. He hugged the kids, with the exception of Nash who backed away instantly. Asta stopped in front of Father Orsi, and the man feared he wouldn’t get his hug. 

“Thank you, Father.”

Father Orsi smiled. He would’ve squeezed the boy in his arms if they weren’t all watching. 

“Make sure you write.” He simply answered

Asta laughed and, waving, got into the portal. The squadmate soon followed.

And just like that, he was gone again. Such emptiness. 

And he hadn’t even  _ hugged _ him. 

“He’s grown so much.” Father Orsi said

Nash looked up to him, a dubitative look on his face.

“Has he now? He’s still small, and loud, and hung up on marrying the Sister.”

Sister Lily laughed.

“He only asked once upon arriving, and I’m pretty sure it was out of habit.”

“That’s a dumb habit to have.” Nash answered harshly 

Father Orsi was beaming. Yes, surely, he had calmed down after the gentlemen talk they’d had. He had provided guidance for his boy… 

“Let’s go back inside,” Orsi said, “the sun is setting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I am now making Father Orsi chapters. Just one. I wanted him to play a role in Asta’s development... so uh, that was it.   
> Thanks for reading!


	14. Noelle - Anger

They were busy. Very busy, as a matter of fact. The royal knights exam led to the final attack of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. They fought powerful foes, the most powerful they’d ever faced. And after that… the kingdom was in ruins. 

There was no time to think about tattoos, or “love”, or _why the hell_ _Asta was so strange_. 

He’d come back from his visit to Hadge completely changed. Vanessa had told Noelle that he’d seen the tattoo, but hadn’t recognized the words. Well, she expected no less from Bakasta. But why was he acting so  _ off _ , then? He wasn’t avoiding her or anything. He was still perfectly kind, and himself… but something was different. He felt... farther. _Off. Strange._ She couldn't pinpoint what felt wrong. 

Noelle didn’t know what she felt for him. Her feelings were confused and she wondered which part Fate’s tattoo had to play in how she felt. Even before getting her tattoo, she liked him. He acknowledged her, he lent her a hand, he supported her, he lifted her up. He had grabbed her by the wrist as she was running away from her siblings. He had told her to stay. That she didn’t have to run. He had changed her whole world, filled it with bright smiles and showed her that there was always a way, that she should never give up… 

Well, anyway, they were busy. Asta and Nero had barely escaped a sentence to death. All the Bulls were trying to find clues about devils so they could  _ effectively  _ escape said sentence (the Parliament had let them go, but their every move was tracked down). Gordon had even visited his family who specialize in hex magic (from what Noelle had gathered from Grey and Gauche, Gordon was the sanest of the bunch). She herself had discovered that her own history was linked to a devil. 

So, they went to the Heart Kingdom. They’d barely crossed the border that Asta and Nero were kidnapped, and they had to fight Gadjah, Heart’s strongest spirit guardian. 

Turned out: the Queen is cursed, and now they have to train, day in, day out, in order to defeat Vanica of the Dark Triad, host to the devil Megicula. 

Busy. 

But this was a different kind of busy. Training is a kind of busy that lets you  _ think _ . At least, when fighting enemies after enemies, you don’t have time to think. All you need to do is make sure you survive, make sure everyone around you survives, and make sure it lasts. But the training in Heart… they had meals, lectures on runes, and they had some time off. And irremediably, everytime she had some time for herself, she found herself thinking about that idiot and it scared her. 

So, they were busy, yes. But if you asked Noelle, she’d say that they were not _ nearly  _ busy enough. 

“Noelle, focus!”

_ Crap. _ The water mage avoided the spell at the very last moment. She’d have to thank her valkyrie dress for giving her that much mobility and speed, or she would’ve been blasted by that water soldier, or… whatever Loropechka’s water clones were called. The relentless attacks stopped, so Noelle landed on the ground, her heart still racing from having nearly been hit. 

“You’re out of it today.” Loropechka remarked “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t focus with him  _ screaming _ like that.”

Well, that wasn’t untrue. Asta had been yelling at… trees, she guessed… for ten or twenty minutes, and, sure, it was getting on her nerves, but this was only part of the reason why she couldn’t focus. 

“I’ve been wondering for a while,” Mimosa started, “but did something happen between you two?”

_ Something? _

“You used to get along well and now… well… you’re distant. You’re not even training together anymore. Did you have a fight?”

Distant… maybe. No, they didn’t have a fight. But explaining to Mimosa why she was upset wasn’t an option. 

She’d have to explain about the tattoo. She hadn’t told anyone else but Vanessa, because she trusted the witch could keep the secret. She trusted Mimosa too, but she was still a royal, and a terrible liar. It was too risky.  _ Royals would take the secret to the grave _ . 

She’d have to explain about soulmates or whatever that was… how Fate thought it’d be a good idea to tie a peasant and a royal’s destinies together by branding them like animals and letting them deal with it without saying  _ what _ it means to be soulmates. 

But most of all, she’d have to explain her feelings towards Asta. She’d have to explain that she resented him for something he wasn’t even aware of. That she hated herself for that. That she also hated him for not even  _ remembering _ her… while knowing perfectly that anyone would have tried to forget if the words written on their skin were “ _ Vanish, insect _ ”. She wished to never have met Asta, and never have said these words to him. More than anything, she wished they’d never got their first words carved on their skins. 

Mimosa was still staring at her. Noelle decided it was better to let her think that she was just angry for no reason. 

“No.” was all Noelle answered

She saw Loropechka and Mimosa exchange a worried look, and it was the final straw. 

“Just spit it out. What is it?” she snapped

_ It didn’t come out right at all. _

“Noelle, we just want to help.” Mimosa said gently

“Don’t. It’s none of your business. There’s a devil I’d like to defeat. Can we get back to training?”

_ Crap, crap, crap… _ Taking her own anger on her friends was not a good idea. She knew it perfectly well, but the words had escaped her mouth and it was too late. Noelle bit her bottom lip. She felt the urge to run away. 

“Y… yeah, sure.” Mimosa said, unconvinced

Noelle summoned her valkyrie dress and took off. 

None of this had come out right. 

Mimosa and Loropechka had been nothing but supportive these past few months, despite her terrible mood. These days, she knew nothing but anger, and fear. 

Maybe it was that whole story with the devils. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe it was the deadline closing in when they weren’t nearly ready enough. Maybe it was that  _ cursed  _ tattoo and all the thinking that came with it. Maybe she was missing home. Maybe she was missing him. Or maybe it was all of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At first, I thought Noelle’s anger was ooc, then I re-read the Elysia chapter and realized that… damn she actually has a lot of anger inside.  
> Well, anyway, thank you for reading and still being here despite my... unpredictable update schedule 😎


	15. Asta - Fear

Noelle was weird. 

They were preparing for a war, so all of them were on edge. But she was definitely weirder than any of them. He liked to think he knew her well enough to notice: there was something more. 

She was weird. But he was too. He felt weird whenever he tried talking to her. He’d be so scared of sounding like an idiot. He was self-conscious around her, certain she’d be able to read through him, discover his secret (what secret?) and he hated the thought. So he limited his speaking to her. When he did speak, he couldn't seem to get through. It was as if they didn’t speak the same language anymore, as if an invisible wall prevented his words from reaching her. 

He kept thinking about Father Orsi’s question.  _ How do you feel about her?  _ He had no idea how to answer. He’d been so sure he loved Sister Lily. It had always been so clear for him, from the moment he met her. He’d made it his goal to marry her, he wanted her to be happy, he wanted to make her smile. 

With Noelle, it was different. She was hard to read; even when he tried to interpret her ki he ended up more confused than if he hadn’t. However, he felt like he could put his life in her hands. He wouldn’t even hesitate. He trusted her, he wanted to help her, he cared about her more than he cared about any other Black Bull. He wanted to stay by her side, fight alongside her… but what bugged him the most was how much he’d missed her lately despite being so close, and how little he was thinking about about Hadge, or the church, or Sister Lily.

Asta swung his sword. 

He had no idea how  _ she  _ felt about him. He assumed she thought they were squadmates who worked well together. She never hinted at the tattoo, never asked him anything about his wristband. Asta assumed she still didn’t know. He didn’t know if it meant anything, that he had the tattoo and she didn’t. Did she not have it yet because he’d done something wrong? What if his soulmate tattoo was one-sided? Was it even possible? He wanted to go back to Father Orsi to ask him. 

He was sad that she didn’t have her tattoo yet. He wanted her to have something of him. He felt it was unfair he knew and she didn’t. He would’ve liked that she relied on him a little more, at least tell him what was wrong, because something was definitely wrong. Even without being soulmates or anything… they were friends, right? They used to be great friends… 

Honestly, her behaviour scared him a little. She’d cut the conversation short every time he tried to talk to her. She’d answer his questions with monosyllables. She wouldn’t even look at him. She’d always say she doesn’t have time, there’s an enemy we need to fight, we need to get stronger, we’re gonna get killed at this rate… 

“She’s acting weird, no?” He asked Mimosa one day. “Did she tell you anything?”

Mimosa had shaken her head. She speculated her cousin simply didn’t get enough sleep, but Asta saw how worried she looked. He was at a loss. He guessed if anyone knew what was going on, it would be Mimosa. Or Vanessa. But she wasn’t in Heart and as they tried as much as possible to focus on their training, they limited their going backs to Clover… 

Asta swung his sword. 

They used to coordinate so well, and now, even training together was a hassle. They gradually fell apart during sparring sessions. When he realized it was counterproductive, he’d gone to practice alone. He’d been practicing alone for a while now. Maybe he should try and reach out to her. But he didn’t know how. She seemed so far away from him already. 

He was scared of losing her. Losing her because of the attack they were launching, because Asta knew that the enemy was more powerful than ever and they were not strong enough just yet. He knew they would be risking their lives, fighting against Spade. But what terrified him was losing  _ her _ . He was afraid of losing their bond, how they used to talk so naturally, how they used to stay comfortably silent, how they used to laugh so spontaneously. God, he misses this. 

If he was being honest, it already felt like they’d lost it. 

Asta yelled as he landed his sword in the tree in front of him. He didn’t know why, but the thought made him boil with rage. What was he so angry for? Panting, he walked towards the tree and took his sword out of the oak, fell backwards, arms spread wide at his sides, eyes lost in the sky above him. What was he so scared about? 

Whatever he felt for her, he knew one thing for sure: he could not lose her. And he would not give up on their bond. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are we getting close to some development or am I messing with you once again?  
> Who knows. _I do._  
>  Anyway, thanks for reading, you're great! 😄


	16. Noelle - Gift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to publish this one today because, well, you'll see why.   
> Enjoy, and merry Xmas!

They were having a banquet, to Charmy’s delight. Noelle watched as she waltzed between the buffet tables, plates bigger than her, full of meat, vegetables and fruits. Charmy wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place, but she’d proved that she could train just as much as them, and that she could become strong… if provided with Heart Kingdom’s most exquisite meals. Charmy was the most constant sign that some things would never change. She’d always like eating. Being in Heart or being in Clover didn’t change this. Despite everything that was going on… she stayed the same. Honestly, it was a relief. 

Noelle put down her juice. They would be launching their attack on Spade in a week. Everyone had made impressive progress these past six months, but Loropechka wasn’t 100% positive they could defeat the Dark Triad just yet. She kept repeating that Clover knights were always stronger while fighting than they were when training, but… even when taking this into account, she kept doubting they’d successfully overpower Vanica and her troops. 

Noelle always tried her best to reassure the Queen. Most of the time, it was useless. Noelle knew she wasn’t strong enough. To fight a devil. To be a leader. To avenge her mother. How could she? She wasn’t even strong enough to deal with a little bit of ink on her skin. 

Still, they’d worked too hard to back down. She would try and she would do her very best. They all would. 

“Noelle?”

The voice sent a shiver back her spine. She turned slowly. 

“Bakasta. Need something?”

He looked sorry. Or scared. She didn’t know. She hadn’t been able to read him for a while now. It was irritating.

“Can we go for a walk?”

She felt her heart start racing. What for? She… she should be angry at him. She’d been nothing but angry these past few days, weeks... months. Asta and her hadn’t talked properly in weeks… or months, really. But his voice was calm. Soothing. 

She nodded prudently and followed him. 

Nights in the Heart Kingdom were peaceful. Starry too, so much more than in Clover, to the point Noelle wondered if this was the same sky up above. The colours of the day, intense and bright, turned into darker shades, but kept a hint of their vibrant hues by the moonlight, especially the flowers. There were so many breeds Noelle didn’t recognize here. She hadn’t had the occasion to train with the plant spirit guardian but he’d ranted about endemic species that were only found in Heart with such pride that he wouldn’t have talked differently if they’d been his children. 

They walked in silence until they were far enough from the banquet to only hear vague reverberations of the talks, some shouting and the bass music. God, they were so  _ loud _ . Asta took her by the river, and they followed the stream for a while before he started talking:

“That banquet sure is nice.”

“Yes.”

“The food is so good here!”

“Yes.”

She wanted to punch herself for being so  _ talkative _ . Her answers were so harsh too. She didn’t want him to know how annoyed she was, but everything coming out of her mouth was just another sharp answer. Why try to be pleasant anyway? There was no point in it. He stopped suddenly and took out a small warped box, “I got you this. I hope you’ll like it.”

He paused before adding, “It’s… a gift.”

It looked like a present. It was a present. He’d just said it was a gift.  _ Pull yourself together, Noelle. _

She raised her hand, took the box, and uttered a confused “thank you”. It was light, but she resisted the urge to shake the box. She removed the lid slowly and her eyes landed on a set of pink ribbons. Her heart skipped a beat. 

“They uh… I don’t know if you wear ribbons, I’ve never seen you wear ribbons, but I know you prefer your hair tied, so I thought maybe it was a good idea… they’re… they’re the colour of your eyes. I saw them and I thought… well, they reminded me of you.”

Noelle felt as if the ground had disappeared under her feet. Sure, she’d received gifts before. From the Black Bulls and from Asta too. But never had he given her anything… in private like that, with no reason at all. She was staring at the ribbons. Her heart was beating so fast, pounding so loudly she was scared he’d hear it. Despite the cold night, she felt hot, and her cheeks felt even hotter. She was infinitely grateful for it to be the night. The darkness concealed her blushing. 

“I’m sorry, I…”

She couldn’t say anything else. Sure, he’d been strange these past months and it had sent her off edge. But she hadn’t tried to understand why. She hadn’t done anything he probably would have… she didn’t ask him what was wrong. It never crossed her mind that he could need her help, that he could need her. And now, he was giving her something? When she’d been nothing but angry at him all this time? 

A lump settled in her throat, her shoulders slumped. Noelle couldn’t phrase her apologies. She could barely process what was happening. She looked up at Asta and she saw him smiling. She was taken aback. It was one of his smiles from the beginning. A pure, radiant, stupid grin. She felt like crying. She breathed in, breathed out, then closed the box. She straightened herself, locking eyes with him. As she did so, she realized she hadn’t properly looked at these green eyes of his in forever. 

“Why does it feel like a goodbye gift?”

He laughed, rubbing a hand on his neck as he resumed his walk. 

“It’s not.” he answered “I just want you to have them.”

She saw something on his face, an expression she couldn’t decipher. So she thought she’d make her point clearer. 

“We still have a week before invading Spade, Asta. And anyway,” she added while swinging a ponytail to her back “we’re strong enough to make it out alive.”

She didn’t know how she could say this so confidently. But somehow… it felt possible. At this precise moment, it felt possible. Maybe it was the giddiness from getting a gift, from finally talking to him like they used to, from being with him, alone. God, she felt so much calmer now. Calmer than she’d ever been. 

“I know you will,” Asta said. “You’re strong. And… I know I can rely on you.”

She looked at him. He was fiddling with his wristband, a bad habit he’d had for a while. Somehow, it felt like he wasn’t talking to her. 

“And…”

She waited for the rest of the sentence, but he never finished it. 

“So, just wear them for good luck,” he said.

‘Good luck’... it really felt like he was digging their graves as he spoke. She stopped. He turned to face her, a quizzical look on his face. 

“You’re strong. I’m strong. We’re all strong. If we all look out for each other… we’ll be fine.” Noelle said. 

“Yeah, I know. We’ll do this.”

Asta’s lips curled into a confident smile. And it felt good. She opened the box again, took a good look at the ribbons. 

Royals never returned favours. It was a rule made to ensure no noble could have any leverage on them. But she felt bad to accept this from him. Asta was the last person who’d try to take advantage of her position as a royal. He didn’t even care about it. In fact, he’d constantly  _ forget  _ about it. So there would be no problem in her getting something for a squadmate… right? 

“They’re beautiful. I don’t have anything for you, I’m sorry.”

She’d apologized twice already, two more times than a royal should. Asta was still smiling. 

“I already have something from you.”

Noelle frowned. He’d done it again. He had a bad habit of entering her room unannounced to borrow quills, ink, books, paper, or really, anything.  _ Yes _ , he’d return what he’d borrow in the state he’d taken it and he always asked before, but still. 

“I’ll have you know, robbing a royal…”

He started laughing. 

“Let’s head back.”

“No, wait, answer me!”

“It’s a joke! Forget it!”

She sighed. His stupid jokes. 

But still. It felt good. As they were walking back, she realized how much she had missed him. This was where she was meant to be. With him. Her behaviour looked so stupid now. She felt so much calmer, so lighthearted. Whether they were soulmates or not… she didn’t care. If Fate had anything to do with how she felt, so be it. His stupid optimism, his confidence… as scary, shameful, or idiotic it was, she needed him. These past few months had been so hard. She’d stop forcing herself to stay away. He was one of the few good things in her life, she would not let it go. She was already a royal failure anyway, she could at least try and be happy. 

She made her resolve. She’d wear the ribbons, and she’d tell him about the tattoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'tis my personal head canon that these ribbons were a gift. Yes.   
> Anyway! Have some fun today, eat a lot, take a breather... and thanks for reading!


	17. Noelle - Fighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, anime-onlies, it’s time to run away while you can. There will be spoilers for the Spade Arc from now on, and that arc is too good for you to get spoiled by a fanfic. It’s really not worth it. Thanks for making it this far! 
> 
> Manga readers, we’re entering uncharted territories starting… now. Enjoy.

Fate had a strange sense of humour. Just as Noelle had decided that she’d tell Asta about the tattoo, they were thrown into a continental war. 

A few days after the banquet, Vanica and her Dark Disciples launched an attack on Heart and took Loropechka. Simultaneously, Dante and Zenon went to Clover and kidnapped Captain Yami and Captain Vengeance. 

Spade had all three of them, and the future of the continent (and maybe the world) did  _ not _ look good. Spade’s plan was terrifying, a promise of chaos and death, so they had to unite and do everything in their power to prevent it. 

They didn’t have time to stop, or to think. Two days to learn ultimate magic. Not enough. But they still had to go and get Loropechka back, to get all of them back: they launched a coordinated attack on Spade; Clover, Heart, the Spade resistance and even Diamond united to save their continent and their people. 

So they all went. And they all fought. 

* * *

Fighting with two captains was great. They seemed to know what to do, when to do it. They anticipated attacks, and her own movements. They’d been in countless battles, allowing them to recognize patterns and to analyze situations calmly. Even Rill, who was their youngest captain, made up for his lack of experience by creativity. Noelle lacked this experience, most definitely, but having Rill and Charlotte around immediately made her feel safe. Well, as safe as she could be in foreign territory, foreign castle, in the freezing cold of a snowstorm, and with a sword of damocles hanging over their captains’ heads. The orders from Julius were clear: defeat the Dark Triad as fast as possible, before the Qlipoth ceremony can start, and get the two captains out of here  _ if you can _ . Stop the opening of the gate by any means necessary. 

Noelle looked around. They had already wasted too much time. They’d been fighting for a while now, the captains had been fighting for even more time… She’d been fighting close-range in Valkyrie dress, avoiding Vanica’s attacks, trying to find an opening… it was time to change the pace. It was time to give her all. Her technique was still imperfect, but it was now or never. She hadn’t trained day in day out for two days only to get cold feet when it mattered. 

“Cap’ns, can you cover for a minute?” Noelle said while falling back 

The Blue Rose captain nodded before launching a set of bicolored roses attacks at Vanica. Noelle breathed in slowly. This had to be the finishing blow. 

Ultimate magic worked in strange ways. The mana manipulation was completely different from classic mana, and the concentration and control into spells required a whole other method than the one she, and all Clover Knights, had always used. Switching from the old ways to that brand new technique required a mental rewiring… that took time to get right. Unfortunately, on the battlefield, you don’t get that kind of time; thankfully, she wasn’t fighting alone. Eyes closed, she pulled magic towards her, she waited for it to join her and concentrated it in one spell.

“Alright. Coming through!” she announced

She opened her eyes just in time to see Charlotte get out of the way. Charging in, she uttered: “Ultimate magic: Sea God’s Wrath”.

It was still imperfect. It wasn’t as refined as Pattri’s magic, it was sloppy, it lacked control, and it lacked that overwhelming power the elves had, but… it worked just well. It was powerful enough, more powerful than any other of her spell and Noelle watched in awe as Vanica was thrown back into a castle wall. The impact blasted the stones, and Noelle had to close her eyes to protect herself from the flying debris. 

For a short instant, there was nothing but silence and dust. Noelle brought herself to move, walking tentatively towards her enemy. She went through the hole created by her spell and reached… a great hall. In the centre, the two captains were in what looked like coffins. Noelle shivered.  _ Coffins. _ Between the platform and them, there seemed to be briar, or… maybe it was some sort of tree? She didn’t linger on the ghastly decor. She needed to check if her enemy was down. Right in front of her, at her feet, Vanica was lying face down. Noelle was mustering up her courage to kneel and take her pulse when she stopped, gasping.

“Not… bad…” Vanica said, shakingly trying to get on her feet

Noelle’s whole world collapsed. She brought the trembling hand that was supposed to confirm Vanica’s knockout to her chest, feeling her own madly fast beating heart. How was this not enough? Ultimate magic was not enough? She’d bet  _ everything _ on this last attack. What now?  _ What now? _

Vanica stumbled forward, blood dripping and staining the stone floor. Noelle wanted to take a step back, but she found herself unable to move. 

Noelle’s eyes opened wide in terror as she stared at the devil-possessed foe in front of her. What wasn’t black from the devil was drenched in blood. The white from her left eye gave the impression her glare was glowing with madness. Megicula was silent. Vanica was silent. They had never been this silent. Vanica’s side of their face was constricted with rage, Megicula’s side was still, emotionless. Noelle couldn’t think she’d see her/them with this kind of expression, ever. She knew she didn’t like it. She heard Rill and Charlotte join them in the room, and the Blue Deers’ captain gasped and uttered a “no way”. Noelle couldn’t believe it either. How Vanica was still standing was a mystery. What was certain was that they were now past being “toyed” with. Vanica looked like she was out for some blood now. She didn’t look like she was having fun anymore. She looked half-dead, ready to take the whole world down with. 

“How about…”

Vanica’s words died as a huge explosion covered them. They all turned to look at the place the noise came from and as the dust cleared up, Noelle saw Dante of the Dark Triad. A man she didn’t know, with the Captain of the Green Mantises. And Asta. 

It was reassuring to see that, at least, Dante had taken critical damage. What Noelle hoped however, was that the two Triad members didn’t have an ace up their sleeve, that they wouldn’t regroup to launch whatever crazy devil spell they could.

“How about I make you pay for this?”

Noelle turned, avoiding her spell at the very last moment. She tried to summon her Valkyrie dress once again, only to discover that she couldn’t. This last attack had drained all of her magic power. Her anxiety peaked.  _ Damn. Damn. Damn.  _

“Cap’ns, I’m out of…”

She didn’t have time to warn them. When she looked back, she saw they were busy with a new wave of Dark Disciples.  _ What were the decoys doing? _

Noelle’s options right now were scarce. The first option was to find help. The captains would soon be over with the Dark Disciples, but she’d have to avoid the spells in the meantime. Those fighting Dante would not be of any help either, they had a lot on their plates already. If she freed Yami and Vengeance… they could help. If they were fine enough. She ran off, bolting past Vanica, trying to, at least, reach the coffins. If she could, somehow, release them, either one of them… they were captains, they were the strongest captains… 

“Don’t run away from me,” Vanica said, panting

Noelle got knocked off her feet. It became clear that without her Valkyrie Dress, she couldn’t reach the platform where the coffins were. So, she settled for her second option: survive until she recovered enough mana to fight back. The only thing that gave the water mage an ounce of solace was that Vanica’s attacks were drastically weakened. Her aim was poor too. If not for these wrenched devil powers… it would all be over. It looked like Vanica could only manage her own magic… she was an awful lot less talkative too, not trying to provoke. Noelle’s last option… she looked at the coffin her captain was in…  _ surpass her limits.  _ She tried to do something, anything, Sea Dragon's cradle to protect herself, Valkyrie Dress to take off, to get better mobility, to at  _ least _ avoid the spells, a new spell maybe, a miraculous spell, like when she fought Vetto, or when she fought the Elf at the Silva Castle? Nothing worked in time. No new spell, no spell at all, and no means to dodge either as even her own body wasn’t following her lead anymore. She collapsed on the ground in exhaustion and sighed.  _ That must be it.  _ She closed her eyes and braced herself for an impact…. that never came. 

When she opened her eyes, he was right in front of her, his arm still raised from what she supposed had been a slash of anti-magic. Noelle’s throat tightened. This reminded her so much of the Underwater Temple battle against Vetto. The nostalgic feeling and the overwhelming relief almost had her in tears. 

“Asta…”

He turned to face her, but she didn’t have time to warn him about what was coming. She grabbed his shoulder and tried to get them both out of the way, but he was so heavy in armour (why was he wearing armour anyway?) that all she managed was to have them both fall backwards.

She was expecting flooring. The stones, grey, cold, dusty. But there was none of this. The last thing she saw was his eyes, green, terrified, and a large gush of blood, red. Something hit her. Freezing cold and heavy. Then, everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, it’s me, and my cliffhangers too. We’re back <3\. 
> 
> I’m _so_ sorry for the delayed chapter. I changed my plans at least five times when writing it, but it felt awkward so I rewrote it… and rewrote… and then I changed my whole plans again, put stuff that were supposed to be in part 1 in part 2… Well, anyway, you don’t care about that. Also, this chapter and the next were supposed to be one, you’ll understand why when reading the next hehe, but I got you used to small chapters and cheap cliffhangers, so I thought, why not another cliffhanger? 
> 
> Now about the updating schedule… as you know, there was Christmas, and then there’s New Year coming, for some reason life is hectic right now so I don’t have much time to settle down to write… I have plenty of time to think about the story though and I can tell you proudly that I have most events for part 2 planned somewhere inside that hollow head of mine, and some stuff for part 3. I also added the ‘angst’ tag because it seems in order.
> 
> Anyway, sorry for ranting, and thanks as always for being the sweetest human beings in the comment section TT__TT


	18. Noelle - Grave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I apologize to Blacksilver again (and to all of you?) because, oh well, you'll see.  
> This might be the longest chapter I’ve come up with, over 2000 words, mostly because I couldn’t cut it.  
> Anyway, let's go.

It was incredibly windy in Spade. She recalled there was a snowstorm, after all. But... there was no snow… just wind…? 

Noelle woke up to Asta screaming at her to stop… something. She didn’t hear the last part, it trailed off in a scream. She looked around, and realized. It was not windy. They were free falling. Panic immediately rose in her and she grabbed Asta by his robe.

“What’s happening?!” she shouted above the screeching in her ears

“We’ve been falling for forever now! Liebe won’t answer me, I can’t summon my swords and I can’t fly without them!”

_ Who the hell was Liebe? _ Well, she’d ask him about it later. For now… she had to stop their fall. She had to focus. To say that the mana was disrupted was a euphemism. She’d known a similar situation when the Eye of the Midnight Sun had attacked the Silva castle. At that time, she’d got away by using her Valkyrie Dress, but she found it so much harder now. 

“I can’t control my magic!” Noelle shouted at the top of her lungs

“You’ve gotten better at it! You can do it!” 

He’d misunderstood. She could not control it  _ at all  _ at this  _ precise  _ moment. For starters, she didn’t have much magic left. But above everything, the surrounding mana was too unstable… hell,  _ her  _ mana was unstable! They were  _ falling into a bottomless pit _ and she had no idea how they’d even got into this situation. Try controlling your mana when you can barely  _ breathe _ . She closed her eyes, trying to visualize her magic. 

“GROUND INCOMING. NOELLE PLEASE.”

This sent an electrowave in her. There was no way they’d survive if they hit the ground at such speed. She didn’t dare look down.  _ Come on _ . Come on. COME. ON. She’d done it before!  _ Water creation magic: Valkyrie Dress _ . 

They slowed down and as they did, they grew more unsteady. Half a spell did not provide them with enough stability to land comfortably, but they managed to at least not crash at that ridiculous speed. They lay on the ground. Alive. 

“Thank you” Asta’s quivering voice said

“No problem” she managed to answer

She closed her eyes, feeling dizzy. Her head was spinning; it felt like all the blood in her body had rushed there. She wondered for how long they’d been falling, she wondered why she’d passed out, and where they’d landed. 

“What happened?” Noelle asked after a while

“I think we fell into some sort of pit.” 

She sat up and looked around. It was a pit alright. There was nothing around them. The mana was disrupted, and her own magic power was dangerously low. Noelle could barely make out her surroundings from the flimsy light above. Then again, Asta had said they’d been falling for some time before she eventually came to, so they had to be quite deep underneath the surface. Noelle got up and tried walking around. She stopped right on time. They had landed on a platform, but the pit continued.  _ God, how far down could they have gone? _

“Do you recall what happened?” Asta asked “I think we fell backwards? My swords got stuck somewhere up… I don’t have my grimoire either.”

Noelle checked her belt. Hers was still here. She frowned. Her recollections of the fight were… fuzzy, to say the least, “I was fighting Vanica… You were there too, I think? We were all fighting, but I can’t… remember how it ended…”

She didn’t dare think about the situation they’d left behind. What about Loropechka? Vanica? Dante? Zenon? What about captain Yami? What about the captain of the Golden Dawn? The rest of the Clover Knights? The Spirit Guardians? The Qlipoth… had they opened the gates? Had the Triad’s plan been set into motion? Her head was throbbing… she was anxious, and she could somehow feel a pain… that didn’t quite seem like hers. 

She went back to Asta. The least she could say was that he’d seen better days. He was breathing heavily, his chest rising up and down at a quick pace. She lay down next to him, not finding the force to stand up.

“You’re feeling fine?” she asked for confirmation

“Kind of.”

This wasn’t the answer she was hoping for. Then again, her whole body was aching, and there was an unreasonable amount of blood around them both… Noelle liked to think it was only Vanica’s magic, but she only half-believed that lie. 

Silence fell over them.

“They don’t work.” Noelle said suddenly

Asta’s head turned to her, puzzled.

“What doesn’t?”

“Your ribbons. They didn’t bring us any luck.”

Asta laughed, and it rapidly turned into a cough. She didn’t like the sound of his breathing. 

“Well,” she added “I’ve never had that much luck myself so you’re not responsible.”

They kept silent for a while. Noelle felt the adrenaline slowly wear off and fatigue befell her like a whip. Her senses dulled progressively… 

“Hey, stay awake.”

She battled to open her eyes again.

“Why?” she grumbled

“I can feel you drifting away.”

“I just want a small nap.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

And he was probably right. But as someone who was wheezing at every breath he took, he didn’t have the right to tell her what to do. 

“I wonder how they’re holding on up there.” Asta said

“Clover sent a dream team,” Noelle answered “I’m sure they’ll be fine.”

A beat.

“I wouldn’t even have met our Vice Captain once.” She said

“He’s nice. Well, he’s a bit straightforward I guess, but I don’t think he’s a bad person.”

A beat. 

“Who’s Liebe, by the way?”

“My devil. He’s fun. He’s asleep right now. I reckon he’s tired from the fight.”

“I’m tired too.”

“Don’t sleep.”

“Then entertain me.”

A beat. 

“Do you think help will come?” Asta asked

“Maybe.”

She hoped. They stayed silent, battling to stay awake. She stared at the infinite dark above. No one would ever find them. She hadn’t recovered enough magic to bring the both of them to the surface, and even if she’d recovered her mana, she couldn’t control it into a spell. Her communications device was useless in such a mana-distorted environment, so they couldn't send any signal. They were all alone in the dark, wounded, exhausted, six feet under. Help could not and would not come. Objectively, none of this was looking good. So why did she feel at peace? 

“I lied when I told you it was a good luck charm.” He said suddenly, startling her

“I could’ve guessed that, look at us.”

He coughed. 

“I gave you these ribbons to apologize…”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s a long story.”

A wave of fear rose in her as she finally realized what he was talking about. This wasn’t small talk anymore. He wasn’t just trying to keep her conscious. 

“We have nothing but time right now,” she said, not as confident as she would’ve like, “and you’re so hung up on not letting me sleep…”

She kept silent, expecting. Then, he finally talked. 

“I was born manaless, parentless, and a peasant. I always did everything I could to rise above all of this. I wanted to end discrimination, I wanted to prove to everyone that they had a place in this world. I got blessed with so much love. Father Orsi, Sister Lily, the kids at the church, the villagers at Hadge… I wanted to pay them back for everything they did for me. And I hated Fate. Because they all deserved better and I couldn’t understand how some _ thing _ could decide for people how they should live their lives, what should happen to them. When I was ten, something surreal happened to me. I was training, and I was thinking about how I’ll marry Sister Lily and about how I’ll become Wizard King, when suddenly, I felt pain in my left forearm. That, uh… that was a soulmate tattoo. But when I read the words, I… thought it was a prank. I couldn’t believe it, so I hid it, and I tried to forget about that tattoo. I prayed every day for the ink to vanish. It wasn’t against you or anything I just… I didn’t want that tattoo to tell me what to do and who to love. When I met you, I couldn’t remember the words… When I finally looked at them, I didn’t even realize that those were your words to me. What made me click is your handwriting. Don’t… don’t freak out, Noelle, but you… you are my soulmate.”

He stops for a while and struggles to catch his breath. Noelle is still holding hers.

“I think I started acting differently around you after that. You were… so far. I don’t know if it’s because of our connection, but I could… I could feel your pain, your anger, and I felt like this was my fault, all my fault. I didn’t know how to act. I missed you, and I was worried about you; I think we all were. I wondered often if I should tell you about my tattoo, but I was certain you’d sent me flying or something… I got you these ribbons partly because I wanted to apologize, but mostly because I wanted you to know that I care about you. A lot. I trust you, I want to stand by you and to fight by your side. I… don’t want us to be apart ever again.”

Noelle closes her eyes. Her heart is beating so fast. She thinks about what she should do. She wants to tell him everything. It’s only fair she would; he’s just laid his heart bare. She had settled on telling him everything before they got thrown into this hellish situation. She had hidden the tattoo because she’s a royal, because it would put him in danger, but also because she’d have to face consequences… she remembers the tales.  _ Royals would take the secret to the grave _ . She opens her eyes, looks around.  _ This is a grave alright _ , she thinks bitterly. 

“I got my soulmate tattoo in the middle of a dungeon exploration.” 

She hears him take one sharp, surprised breath. She was ready to tell him everything before, but at this precise moment, she realizes that she’s forgotten  _ what _ she’d meant to say. 

“I… had trouble reading the words because your handwriting sucks. I knew it was you, immediately. But royals can’t have tattoos. They only bring death or shame, which is just another kind of death for us. So I hid it. And then, you said you’d marry the nun, and that these words were not true so I didn’t dare say a thing. I guess it…”

She pauses, breathes in. Breathes out. 

“I guess it hurt… a lot. To hear you say that. So then I got so angry with you, with myself, with Fate, above all, for putting us in this situation. I… I missed you too. Well, you’re not wrong, you know? These words aren’t true, I don’t mean them. You’re not an insect. You’re… the bravest and kindest person I know, and I don’t want you to leave me. Ever.”

She swallows, feeling hot. She’s shocked at how easily the words are flowing out of her mouth. Maybe it’s because she’s physically exhausted. Or maybe she’s simply tired of it all. Of pretending not to know, of pretending she can forget, of pretending at all. She shuts her eyes as she feels a single tear crawl down her right cheek. 

“I wish I could erase my first words to you.”

Her voice cracks with her last defense, and she rests the back of her hand on her eyes as she starts sobbing uncontrollably. She’s wished for this before. She wished for her tattoo to disappear, for his to disappear. But it doesn’t have the same meaning. This time, she says it because she wishes she could engrave something else, better words, truer words. They don’t reflect how she feels about him. He deserves so much better than these two words. He reaches for her hand and she gasps.

“Noelle, it’s okay. I’m satisfied with what I got. I’m right here. And I’m not going anywhere.”

She tries to control her sobbing, to calm down, but it’s so damn hard now that she’s started. The tears crawl down, endless. 

“I don’t think we could even go anywhere if we tried…” he says before bursting out into one of his stupid laughs. 

She chuckles, then finally joins him in the truest round of laughter they’ve had in a while. He can feel their usual bond come back. Stronger. He’s so glad. He’s so glad she’s back, he’s so glad he got it off his chest, he’s so glad she knows. She intertwines their fingers. She needs to feel his presence, right here, right next to her. He’s back.  _ They _ ’re back. 

There’s silence all around them. You can’t believe there’s a war going on. It’s peaceful. So peaceful. There’s no hope anymore. There’s no light above them. Help will not come, they both know it. But it’s fine to be here. It feels good to talk about it. It feels good to let it all out. Their pain, their frustration, their thoughts. Years of hiding, of bottling up, of wishing they’d never had their tattoos. They realize how everything could have been different if they’d just been more honest, if the timing had been better, if they’d been less scared, less scarred. She listens as he laughs and cries at the same time. She takes solace in the now silent tears falling down her cheeks. 

“What does your tattoo say by the way?” Asta asks after a while “I don’t remember what I first told you…”

“ _ Let’s both do our best. _ ”

Asta and Noelle laugh bitterly. He squeezes her hand tighter. 

Fate has a strange sense of humour. 

“We did our best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..........howdy, people.  
> I already apologized, but surely I can do it again? Sorry for putting them through so much. I promise, I love them with all my heart and I would never wish for them to get hurt in any kind of way _(she says after uploading a chapter like that)._  
>  I hope I managed to at least handle that key chapter correctly. I hope the switch to the present tense wasn't too off-putting ~~
> 
> The next chapter is the last chapter of this first part... so brace yourself for the closure... 
> 
> And as always, thanks for reading, commenting, interacting... it's always nice to hear from you!
> 
> PS: Episode 158. Opening 13. I still can't process. It was PERFECT.


	19. Ensemble

* * *

**Asta - Right**

* * *

When Asta opens his eyes, he’s dazzled by the light surrounding him. He blinks a few times, and manages to open his eyes fully. Through a blurry sight, he takes in the wooden door facing him, the cracked painting of a village hanging right by it, the dark wood wardrobe. He feels a soft mattress under him, too soft, and a pillow, too hard. He looks to his left and sees flowers in a vase, a glass of water, and a card. 

His mind is foggy, he’s thirsty, but he feels the urge to read the card so his fingers reach for the matte paper. His eyes linger on the cover; it says “Get well soon”. He looks inside and he sees words, handwritings, different ink colours. He’s too tired to read, but he looks at the pictures. There’s a doodle of a red cat, a cooking sheep, and the sketch of a little girl. 

_ Vanessa, Charmy, Gauche. _

He closes his tired eyes. It’s the Black Bulls. It’s slowly coming back to him. He’s a Magic Knight of the Black Bulls. This is his squad. 

He’s fixating on the card. He identifies every single handwriting, every single squadmate and he realizes that he’s looking for something he doesn’t find. Something’s missing. One person. One  _ handwriting.  _

He looks at his left arm. It’s fully bandaged.  _ Something’s missing _ . 

He looks at his right. There’s only a window.  _ Someone’s missing _ .  _ Someone was here _ . 

And then it strikes him. The tattoo, the dark pit, the pain, how they both slowly let go. He remembers holding her hand, the warmth of that hand in his, the feeble pulsations of her heartbeat. He remembers the sweet music of their voices resonating against the cavern walls, his own painful breathing, the silence. He remembers watching his forearm with anguish, looking for reassurance. He remembers the panic as the words had started to fade away, or maybe it was his vision getting blurry from staring so intently. He remembers being too worn out to call out to her, to ask her to stay awake, to stay with him. 

He tears the bandages and winces at the stinging pain the movement sends in his whole body. He doesn’t care. He’s always known pain, but there is a type of pain he isn’t ready for. Father Orsi said that the only way for a tattoo to disappear was for the soulmate to die. 

_ If she’s alive, it’s still here.  _

The bandages don’t come off, he’s still too weak, so Asta uses his teeth. He has to see. He has to check. He’s panting, he’s gasping for air, his vision is hazy, he’s in so much pain, but he needs to know. 

For years he tried not to look at the tattoo. For years, he wished for it to be gone. 

For the first time, he begs it’s here. 

Because then, she’d be alive. 

His eyes open wide. 

_ Vanish, insect. _

He reads the words once, twice, as many times as he can until his sight is all blurry. He feels his trembling lips curl into a feeble relieved smile, eyes prickling with tears. He breathes out slowly as his heart is beating faster and faster.  _ She’s alive _ . 

He untangles himself from the sheets and gets up. His legs are shaking and can barely support his own weight, but he rushes to the door, almost crashing on it. His feet feel cold against the tiles. He goes forward, his right hand on the wall for support. He’s vaguely aware of his bandage coming off and trailing behind him. He finds himself in a corridor and he turns right. He’s certain he needs to head right. 

“Asta?! What are you doing?”

He ignores the call. He keeps on walking. He’ll keep on walking. 

_ She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive.  _

_ We’re both alive.  _

* * *

**Noelle - Left**

* * *

Noelle doesn’t open her eyes. She feels an overwhelming light behind her eyelids and it doesn’t feel safe. Not yet. 

She tries eventually, tentatively, and finds herself in a room flooded with morning light. She can’t stand this. She’s unsure as to why. She’s not used to this brightness anymore. 

She takes her situation in. She’s on a bed. She looks to the left, and there are some flowers on a bed stand, some chocolate too, and a scary voodoo doll. There’s also a card with the Black Bull emblem on it. Inside, she finds kind words scribbled in various colours, various handwritings, some doodles. She smiles slightly at the words. She looks for the worst handwriting. She doesn’t know why. She can’t even decide which one is the worst and it somehow worries her. 

She puts the card back on the bed stand and looks around. It’s quiet. It’s too quiet. It feels empty. She feels empty. 

She tries and recalls what happened. The war, how they wanted to get Loropechka back, the two captains too. Surely, if she’s alive and casually lying on a bed, it means they won. It soothes her worried mind, and she cracks a faint smile, but it quickly fades away. 

She couldn’t see it through, she realizes. The battle finished without her. But words keep ringing in her ears, reassuring her. She did her best. 

They did their best… 

She turns her head to the left. There’s no one. 

It was dark. They’d been falling. They landed and they talked, and talked, and waited. His wheezing, it’s gotten so bad, so bad… they were waiting. When it appeared that it was all in vain, she’d closed her eyes. He’d squeezed her hand, even so faintly. She couldn’t stay awake. She’d wanted to.  _ I don’t want you to leave me. Ever.  _

She sits up suddenly. Looks down. She’s terrified. She doesn’t want to know. She needs to know. She doesn’t dare to look. She must know. But  _ what if…  _ She musters her courage and her fingers brush away her hospital gown, slightly, slowly, so carefully. 

She breathes in, eyes closed. 

She looks.

She breathes out slowly and sobs, smiling. 

_ Let's both do our best! _

It’s right here. It’s right here.  He’s alive.

She slides out of bed and shuffles to the door.  She goes left. She goes left because this is where he was. It’s irrational, but she does it anyway.

“Noelle?! You shouldn’t be up!”

She doesn’t turn back. She walks. 

_ He’s alive. We pulled through.  _

_ We’re both alive.  _

* * *

**Fate**

* * *

When they finally reach each other, they’re too weak to stand, but they feel arms around them, supporting them, and pulling them into a warm embrace. It’s a group hug they’ve longed for, they’ve missed each other, they’ve missed the Bulls. They hear Magna tell them off for disappearing in the middle of the battle, they hear Vanessa’s quivering voice tell them that they scared her half to death, they hear Finral thank them endlessly for waking up… 

They don’t know if the whole squad is here, but they can feel all of them.

They close their eyes. 

_ Everything is okay. _

After a few days, they were allowed to return to the Black Bulls’ hideout. Yami was not pleased. He was still recovering and they heard him threaten his healers when he learned that his rookies would be going home without (and before) him. He kept shouting that he was going to kill them (the healers) and that he was the Black Bulls’ captain (that he still was), that he was not going to stay bedridden for weeks. Nacht knocked him out with a smile before escorting the two rookies back to the base.

They learned about how the battle went. They’d fallen into the depths under the Spade Palace and were found later on thanks to spatial analysis magic and brought back to the surface. The healers called it a miracle they were found alive, their lives had been hanging on by a thread. 

Asta and Noelle liked to think it was Fate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo. Yes, Yami is fine. He won’t die in canon (at least not permanently). I’m… 80% sure of it. It’s too early for him to go. Maybe I’m in denial. And of course I wouldn’t kill Asta and Noelle? I need that “happy” ending as much as the next person 😂
> 
> Well, that concludes the “Fate” part. We’re moving to the “Love” part… which _should_ be less angsty. Because, no, these two are not out of the woods just yet. So yep, the next two parts will be completely uncharted territories, it’ll be post Spade Arc. 
> 
> Now, about the schedule… As a rule, I don’t start uploading if I don’t have the whole part planned… So it could take a while. In the meantime, I’ll publish the short Vanessa standalone I promised a few chapters ago (when it’s written). 
> 
> Anyway, anyway, that was a bumpy ride! I had fun writing this, I, uh, suffered too, but that’s part of the fun, I guess.....?
> 
> Thanks for putting up with me, for reading and commenting that fic! 
> 
> See you next time!


End file.
